Half Day

[VelitaR]

Hello,

We finally have good autism insurance and my son has come off the waiting list for ABA at his center. This year he was in kindergarten in an ASD classroom. He did ok. My younger son was able to receive ABA since he was in preschool and it was only half day. I have seen so many improvements that I would really like my older son to be able to do that too. Am I allowed to request half day school hours at our IEP meeting so that he can attend ABA in the afternoons? I feel terrible that my younger son has gotten therapy and my older one has not because of his school schedule. 

[Carolyn Rowlett]

Let me preface this with the fact that autism is not one of my areas of expertise.  So perhaps others will respond, as well.

But having said that, you can ask for anything in the IEP that you feel is necessitated by his disability and is affecting his access to an education.  I would think that since he is already in a self-contained environment that the school would be receptive, especially since you are covering the cost.  It might depend on how his educational instruction could be handled if he only attended half days.  But it would be worth a discussion, in my opinion.

If the school district is not receptive to this, you may need to get data showing a need.  You don't state where you are at in the IEP process, so I don't know if that would mean requesting a school evaluation/FBA or an Independent Educational Evaluation/FBA.

[Lisa Lightner]

What Carolyn said. And, please know that our knowledge and mindset shifts are changing.

ABA is found to be very flawed. Just make sure you know exactly what you're getting into, and what ABA will look like for your child.

https://adayinourshoes.com/school-fba-behavior-plan/

[Lisa Lightner]

Oops, forgot this link too: https://adayinourshoes.com/shortened-days-week-modified-schedule-iep-504/